Shengjian Mantou 生煎包

Overview

Chinese Name: 生煎包
English Name: Shengjian Mantou; Fried Bun; Sheng Jian Bao
Category: Snack小吃
Main Ingredients: Flour

Shengjian Mantou生煎包 is a special traditional snack popular in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong. It is called Fried Bun for short. Because Shanghai people are used to calling “steamed bun包子” “Mantou馒头“, the fried bun is called shengjian mantou in Shanghai.

The stuffing of fried buns is mainly fresh pork and skin jelly. After the 1930s, there was a special store for fried buns in Shanghai’s catering industry, and a variety of varieties such as chicken and shrimp were added to the stuffing.

The bottom of the crust of Shanghai Sheng Jian Bao is golden yellow, and the top half is sprinkled with some sesame seeds and chives. It smells fragrant and full of soup. It is very popular with Shanghai people. Fried buns are best eaten hot out of the pot.

People’s evaluation of it is: “the skin is thin, not broken and not scorched皮薄不破又不焦, the two-part fermentation head depends on baking二分酵头靠烘烤, the fresh filling soup comes all over the mouth鲜馅汤汁满口来, and the bottom is thick and scorched and it is a waste product底厚焦枯是败品.” It not only introduces the advantages of fried steamed bread but also reminds diners that it is best not to buy those with “thick bottom and scorched底厚焦枯”.

Shanghainese call fried buns “fried mantou生煎馒头”, which have a history of more than 100 years in Shanghai. In Shanghai, shops operating this kind of snack are everywhere. Once the most famous is “big pot spring fried大壶春生煎”. Now it is famous for “Xiao Yang Sheng Jian小杨生煎”. It is overcrowded as soon as it opens at 5 or 6 a.m. every day. You can’t eat it without queuing early.

More than 100 years ago, teahouses in Shanghai were also engaged in fried buns in addition to tea. Later, when people didn’t taste tea, they also wanted to take “tea snacks茶点心” like fast food instead of dinner. In order to meet people’s dietary needs, fried buns went out of the teahouse and became street snacks.

How to make Shengjian Mantou?

Ingredients：

250g flour
130g of warm water
3g yeast powder
200g pork stuffing
80g skin jelly
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cooking wine
2 tablespoons chopped green onion and ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instruction:

Step 1, Clean the pigskin, cut it into shreds, and then put it into the pot with ginger slices, scallions, and star anise for 1 hour, and then let it cool and solidify into ice.
Step 2, Dissolve the yeast in warm water, add yeast water to the flour several times, knead it into a smooth dough, and ferment it in a warm place for half an hour.
Step 3, Add salt, soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, and chopped green onion and ginger into the meat stuffing, add two tablespoons of water, stir evenly in one direction, and then add chopped skin jelly to stir together to make the stuffing of fried buns.
Step 4, Rub the dough into long strips, cut it into dosage (20g each), roll it into a thick pastry in the middle and thin on the four sides, add meat stuffing and wrap it, and then make it into the raw fried embryo.
Step 5, Put the pan on the fire, add a large spoonful of oil to heat it, and then put the fried bag in the pan. After frying over a low fire for half a minute, spray 65g of water, cover the lid and continue frying over a low fire for a few minutes, then spray 65g of water and add half a spoonful of oil to the bottom of the pan. When there is no water in the pot and there is a “Zizi滋滋” sound, sprinkle with scallion and sesame, turn off the fire and simmer for 2 minutes, and then the fried bread can be out of the pot.

Tips:

The juice of fried buns comes from skin jelly, but if it’s troublesome, you can add more water or soup to the meat filling, which can also make the meat filling tender.
The size of fried buns should be consistent as far as possible, and it is appropriate to put one mouthful into the mouth so that the fried buns can mature evenly after being put into the pot.
The frying buns expand and mature by evaporating the water in the pot, so the amount of water should be appropriate. One pot of frying buns can contain about 130 grams of water. The water can be added twice, and a little oil should be added at the same time when adding water for the second time, which can make the bottom of the frying bag particularly crisp.